The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-09-22
of painting is. I must not show him the


take him to the RaphaelS and the Michael
Angeles. 1t is most unfair and dishonest
to take the ignominious failures in Chris
tan profession instead of the glorious
successes. The Bible and the church are
great picture galleries filled with master
pieces.
Furthermore, we learn from this story
Of Joseph that the result of persecution is
elevation. Had it not been for his being
sold into Egyptian bondage by his mali
cious brothers and his false imprisonment
Joseph would never have become prime
minister. Everybody accepts the prom
Use: BLESSED are they that are perse-
cuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven but they do not
realize the fact that this principle applies
to worldly as well as spiritual success 1t
is true in all departments Had it not
been for 1Eschines, who brought i'm
parchment against Demosthenes, the i'm
mortal grafton De Corona would never
have been delivered. Men rise to high
political position through misrepresenta-
ton and the assault of the public. Pub
lie abuse is all that some of our public
men have had to rely upon for their ele-
walton. 1t has brought to them what
talent and executive force could never
have achieved. Many of those who are
making great effort for place and power
will never succeed just because they are
not of enough Importance to be
abused. 1t is the nature of man
to gather about those who are
prosecuted and defend them, and they
are apt to forget the faults of those who
are the subjects of attack while attempt
ing to drive back the slanderers. Helen
Stirk, Scotch martyr condemned with
her husband to death for Christ's sake,
said to her husband: ''Rejoice; we have
lived together many joyful days, but this
day wherein we must die together ought
to be most joyful to us both. Therefore
1 will not bid you good night, for soon
we shall meet in the heavenly kingdom. ;"
BY the flash of the furnace best Christian
character is demonstrated.
l go into another department, and
find that those great denominations of
Christians which have been most abused
have spread most rapidly. No good man
was ever more vilely maltreated than
John Wesley. His followers were hooted
at and maligned and called by every de-
testable name that internal ingenuity
could invent, but the hotter the per-
secutiOn the more rapid the spread
Of that denomination, until you know
what great host they have become and
what q tremendous force for God and the
truth they are welding all the world
over. 1t was persecution that gave Scot
land to Presbyterianism. 1t was perse-
cution which gave our own land first to
civil liberty and afterward to religious
freedom. Yea, l may go further back
and say it was persecution that gave
the world the great salvation OF the
Gospel. The ribald mockery, the hun
gering aiad thirsting, the unjust and
ignominious death where all the force
of hell's fury was hurled against
the cross, was the introduction of that
religion which is yet to be the earth's
deliverance from guilt and suffering, and
her everlasting enthronement among the
principalities of heaven. The state has
sometimes said to the church: "Come,
let me take your hand and ] will help
you What has been the result The
church has gone back and has lost its
estate of holiness and has become in
effective. AT other times the state has
said to the church: Il will crush you. :"
What has been the result? After the
storms have spent their fury, the church,
so far from having lost any of its force,
has increased and is worth infinitely
more after the assault than before it.
The church is far more indebted to the
opposition OF civil government than to its
approval. The fires OF the stake have
only been the torches which Christ held
in his hand by the light of which the
church has marched to her present posi-
ton. In the sound Of racks and iinple-
ments of torture I hear the rumbling of
the wheels of the Gospel chariot. Scat
folds of maftyrdom have been the stairs
by which the church has ascended. Aqua
FORTS is the best test of pure gold,
Furthermore, our subject impresses us
that sins will come to exposure. Long,
/ long ago, had these brothers sold Joseph
into Egypt. They had Suppressed the
crime, and it was a profound secret well
kept by the brothers. But suddenly the
secret is out. The old father hears that
his son is in Egypt, having been sold
there by the malice of his own brothers.
/ How their cheeks uust have burned and
! their hearts sunk at the flaming out OF
/ this suppressed crime. The smallest in
+ iquity has thousand tongues, and they
will blab out an exposure. Saul was sent
/ to destroy the Canaanites, their sheep
/ and their oxen. But when he got down
| there among the pastures he saw some
/ fine sheep and oxen too fat to kill, and sc
/ he thought he would steal them, He
! drove them toward home, but stopped tC
report to the prophet how well he had
! executed his commission, when in the
distance the sheep began to bieat and thf
! oxen to below. The secret was out, anC
Samuel said to the blushing and con
| founded Saul: ''What means the bleatine
of the sheep that 7 hear and the lowing
Of the cattle?" Aye, my hearers, yor
cannot keep an iniquity quiet. AT JUS
the wrong time the sheep will bleat anC
the oxen will below. Achan canno
steal the Babylonish garment Withou
getting stoned to death, nor Benedict Ar
nold betray his country without having
his neck stretched. Look over the police
arrests, these thieves, these burglars
these adulterers, these counterfeiters
these highwaymen, these assassins
They all thought they couid our.
their iniquity so deep doNn tha
it would never come to resurrec
tion. But there was some shoe that an
swered to the print in the sand, som,
false keys found in possession, som,
bloody knife that whispered of the deed
and the public indignation, and the ana
thenas of outraged law hurled him int
The Tombs OF hoisted him on the gallows
AT the close of the battle between tn,
dauphin of France and the Helvetians
Burchard Monk was SO elated with tn
victory that he lifted his helmet to lool
off upon the field, when wounded sol
der hurled a stone that struck his uncov
cred forehead and he fell. Sin will al
ways leave some point exposed, and ther
Is no safety in iniquity. Francis l, KIM
Of France, was discussing how it was bes
to get his army into Italy. Amaril, tn
court fool, sprang out from the corne
and said to the king and his staff officers
"YoE had better be thinking how yo